


pure sweetness

by nsykdk



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Forbidden Love, M/M, Prince/Knight AU, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and i really mean. a LOT of kissing, fantasy-adjacent au, knight subaru, prince hokuto, there is a lot of kissing, white lily gacha except it's subahokke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:28:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29057490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nsykdk/pseuds/nsykdk
Summary: Within the flowering maze lies a hidden oasis — the secret garden of a prince and his beloved knight.
Relationships: Akehoshi Subaru/Hidaka Hokuto
Comments: 24
Kudos: 40





	pure sweetness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kiirage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiirage/gifts).



> white lilies mean purity and sweetness!
> 
> also it really... really... REALLY hurt me so much when the announcement wasn't subaru because it LOOKED so much like him and i've been like... waiting for subahokke gacha since 2015... so yeah this one hurt a lot. it hurts so bad. and since we can't have subahokke i uhhhh. i guess i made my own subahokke??? 
> 
> HUGE thank you to [mage](https://twitter.com/mageyalook) who drew [THIS](https://twitter.com/mageyalook/status/1354720259517767685) for inspiring me,, you're doing god's work (go follow them they make pretty art)

"Don't walk backwards, you'll trip," Hokuto calls, as Subaru beams back at him from a way ahead in the maze. He's still wearing his ceremonial suit, the branch of lilies still clasped in his white-gloved hands; impatiently beckoning from the next corner.

Hurrying the last few steps, Hokuto falls into step with Subaru at the corner, who giggles as he takes Hokuto's hand, leading him through the familiar path. Here, they don't have to hide anything: they can drop the titles, forget the way a prince is to treat his subjects. Here, alone with Subaru, Hokuto is simply the boy he is at heart.

It's not as if they haven't come here before, but perhaps it's the newly-pinned brooch on Subaru's lapel — the sparkling white-gold, six-petalled lily that recognises him as a Lily Knight, Lieutenant-General of the Royal Militia — that has him brimming with energy after the ceremony. And it's not as if Hokuto isn't _proud_ , seeing it shine on his lapel.

It fits him.

"You're smiling," Subaru says as they pass under another arch drooping with fragrant flowers, guiding Hokuto away from the patch of mud they always seem to forget. "Something on your mind?"

"You," Hokuto says simply, and Subaru impossibly brightens more. "I'm proud."

(Oh, how far he's come since scraped knees and scabbed elbows. Since fluttering papers and grass stains. Since magic lessons in the darkness of night, and—)

Subaru brings him out of his thoughts with a chuckle. "Not gonna kiss me? Don't think I didn't see you staring during the ceremony."

"We're not even there—" Defeated, Hokuto sighs, bringing his other hand to cup Subaru's cheek, pressing to his lips a whisper of a kiss; a sweet brush as brief as the fragrance of the lilies in his hand as Hokuto leans in. "Will this do until we're there?"

"'Course not!" Subaru pouts, chasing Hokuto as he draws away, whining as Hokuto fixes him with a glare. "Meanie, Hokke!"

"It's hot," Hokuto retorts as some form of an excuse. He knows better than to start: neither of them would want to stop if they do; plus, he doesn't want to stain Subaru's pure-white uniform. "We can relax in the shade."

"Then what are we waiting for?" The smile stretches wide across his cheeks, hand tightly squeezing Hokuto's as he leads the way through the flowering hedges, sunlight catching golden on the strands of his hair that have escaped the styling from earlier that morning. Like it's natural, a smile touches on Hokuto's lips too as he hurries behind, the sound of laughter riding on the breeze that sweeps gently past.

Tumbling into the clearing, panting, Subaru twirls Hokuto around with a laugh, untangling fingers to press them into his hair and tugging him down for a real kiss. Their lips are chapped — from running away the moment the ceremony had ended, surely, but Hokuto doesn't mind. He sighs, softly, into Subaru's kiss, melting into the touch to kiss back. Somehow, it's sweet; the way Subaru's smile tastes on his tongue, the fragrance of the lilies, the feeling that fizzes through his body like lightning.

"Finally," Subaru breathes when they part, cheeks flushed. "I've wanted to do that for so long."

And Hokuto laughs, pulls him back in, promise of relaxing in the shade forgotten. "I have, too."

He doesn't remember how many kisses it's been when he remembers the flowers, still grasped lightly in Subaru's hand, looped around his neck. Plucking the lilies from Subaru's hands, he leads them under falling vines to the lone table in the centre of the gazebo, summoning a simple water spell as he places the flowers delicately in a glass vase. With the flowers gone, Hokuto gazes out at the rest of their secret place.

A swinging bench overlooking the pond of waterlilies, the hanging vine gazebo, a patch of home-grown sunflowers. When night falls, Hokuto knows the blinking stars will be clear above them, a pair of twin lamps casting their gentle golden glow upon the little clearing. They'd strung up fairy lights once, pretending to have their own little ball under the gazebo, but never bothered taking them down. Hokuto still turns them on sometimes when the Royal Militia is dispatched on duty, letting the blinking lights overhead remind him of the ones sparkling in Subaru's eyes.

(This is the place he'd brought Subaru to when he'd caught the knight-in-training almost setting fire to the Queen's favourite roses. The place he'd first wondered how eyes could look endless, like the summer sky. The place where Subaru had caught his hand as he'd tried to run after that stolen kiss — the place where Subaru had kissed him back; the place where he'd been caught by the heartstrings and never been let go since.)

"—Come _on,_ Hokke," Subaru whines, "d'you really have to space out when we're here?"

He's already stretched out on the grass, ceremonial jacket and gloves lying in a haphazard pile beside him. Hokuto shrugs off his own, deciding to leave them on the chair under the shelter before he hurries over, joining his lover in the sunlight.

"It's been so long since we got time together," he's saying with a pout as Hokuto settles beside him, breathing in the fresh scent of grass and the last of the perfume of lilies. The lily brooch sparkles in the sun where he holds it up to the light, glittering with its inlaid diamonds and golden lining; pure white. "I missed you so much, you know?"

It's nice, here, with only the chirping of birds to interrupt them as Subaru recounts everything that'd happened since they'd last met. Interspersed between them, the sound of gentle laughter and the thread of fingers in his hair; the soft curve of smiles as they're pressed together.

Hokuto doesn't realise he's fallen asleep until he hears the faint sound of humming over quiet splashing; the brushing of fingers through his hair and the warmth of Subaru's body gone. He blinks open sleepy eyes to see a pillow under his head and Subaru's jacket draped over his shoulders, and a smile tugs at his lips. Still, he sits up, straightening his creased shirt to blink through the afternoon sun at the figure sat at the edge of the pond.

"Akehoshi?"

Subaru turns, meeting Hokuto's eyes with a smile. "Hey, sleeping beauty."

Hokuto sighs, dusts off the grass on his shirt as he pads over to where Subaru is sitting, taking one of his hands and brushing his lips across the knuckles. "Hello, my Lily Knight."

A faint blush blooms across his cheeks, and Subaru giggles as Hokuto sits beside him. "This morning got me all jittery, so I wanted to move around a little."

"And you decided to put your feet in the pond without at least rolling up your pants?"

"'Cause you'll magically clean it for me later, won't you?" Laughing again, he kicks his feet up in the water, sending multicoloured droplets flying in the air as he settles his head on the grass, beaming up at Hokuto. "Hey, don't grouch at me like that, at least I took off my shoes...!"

"All that time I spent teaching you magic was a waste if you're not going to do it yourself," Hokuto retorts, but he doesn't mind, if it's for Subaru. He plucks a blade of grass and hums to it gently, tugging at the threads of magic brimming inside him until it blooms into a brilliant white lily.

Simple illusion magic replicating touch, scent, sight... he smiles as Subaru takes the flower from him, effortlessly giving it a stem, then a second branch, buds blooming in vibrant white. With the flowers framing his face, he looks just the part of a fairytale prince gazing up at Hokuto; eyes gentle and soft as Hokuto leans down, brushing away fiery bangs to press a kiss to his forehead.

He's beautiful, really. Hokuto feels his heart fill with something that washes over him like the sweet scent of the lilies, curving his lips into a smile as Subaru beams up at him, the slant of the afternoon sun setting his face aglow.

God, Hokuto loves him.

Laughing, bumping noses as they lean in together, fitting lips to lips like pieces to a puzzle; Hokuto wants to lose himself in the feeling of elation as he draws away to see pure adoration in those summer-blue eyes, dipping in to kiss him again and again. He lets Subaru press him into the grass, the petals of their lilies brushing his cheeks as Subaru kisses him, trailing soft warmth over the curve of his cheeks to settle with laughing gently against Hokuto's lips.

(Here, Hokuto can forget — he can forget everything but the warm touch of his lover, lose himself within their secret garden until the sun's rays burn orange, streaking across the sky.)

And when Subaru's arms give out, settling into the soft grass with Hokuto curled into his shoulder, he remembers—

"...Akehoshi?"

"Yeah?"

Hokuto sits up, slipping a hand into his pocket. He'd almost forgotten, carried away with finally being able to come to this place.

"Akehoshi, I—" He fumbles with the ring, noticing how Subaru's eyes go wide as he presents the band to him, and Subaru sits up so fast that he almost bumps into Hokuto.

"Hokke, you know I'd say y—"

"I'm not even proposing to you yet," Hokuto splutters, but feels his cheeks flood with heat regardless. "It's not anything— anything concrete yet, okay? It's just a promise. But one day, I'll give you a proper ring."

"You know already that I'll say yes," Subaru whispers, lilting and teasing, but still he allows Hokuto to slip the ring on his finger. "Stupid Hokke."

"Right, right," Hokuto huffs, but as Subaru takes the second ring from him and slides it onto his own finger, he can't help but smile. "Promise?"

Subaru smiles, and in the dying light of the sunset, he's even more beautiful — sparkling, even, as Hokuto leans in to kiss him again.

"Of course, Hokuto."

**Author's Note:**

> [crying] happy subahokke! perceive my twitter if you so wish. [@subahokke ](https://twitter.com/subahokke)


End file.
